Kate Sutcliffe, NAEDF Online Presentation to Savannah Symposium 2009

 Katherine 2000  Cairns 2006  Cairns 2008  Next?

 Sustainable economic development environment of northern Australia  Industries of tropical Australia  Carbon trading and conservation in business  Indigenous business enterprises

 Reform of governance across regional Australia – regionalise policy development and decision making  Enhance community engagement  Develop greater subsidiarity – policy decisions made where the money is to be spent  Investment agenda  Tax incentives, small business support  Infrastructure priorities

 Establish regional tropical knowledge centres/hubs & collaboration  Focus on impacts of climate change  Investment strategies and requirements – infrastructure  Infrastructure planning

Vision: To grow the Tropical Economy of Australia Mission Statement: TropLinks will maximise the capacity to develop, commercialise and export Tropical Expertise (science, knowledge and innovation) in:  Tropical Environmental Services  Tropical Agriculture  Tropical Health  Tropical Living (including built environment, education, tourism, services to mining)    Contact: Graham Poon, CEO – Mobile:

 Coordinate strategic intelligence – vision for the future  Grow networks and clusters of learning and research  Invest in appropriate collaborative models  Regular workshops on e.g. ecosystem services

 Refocus government attention from disadvantage to investment in indigenous business and on enabling livelihoods across the north  Development of a settlement network that guarantees safety, security and services  Provide an investment strategy for the next years and new approaches to capital investment in outback Australia  Effective governance rather than treating it as a collection of state backyards  Position indigenous business investment within a regional development context and assist those regions where markets are weakest and people most marginalised

 Governance: Marginalisation of the northern economy and communities and the consequences  Positioning NA - Challenges of tropical knowledge opportunities and climate change impact  Decision making: Funding & Infrastructure priorities  Applicability of government programs and policies  Remote and regional demographics and skills, resources and leadership  Constraints – water, land, infrastructure, regulations

 Urgent: review and reform governance and public administration  Urgent: develop a shared vision for targetted investment and development  Develop appropriate policy and institutional settings to enable local engagement in decision making  Build capacity and regional capability to support local leadership

 Prioritise infrastructure to facilitate and stimulate growth  Review government programs and regulations to increase flexibility  Develop and capitalise on tropical innovation and knowledge  Create a settlement network that guarantees security and investment strategies

Broad spectrum issues:  Governance – decentralisation of policy development and decision making  Fiscal reform  Community and social – tackle community marginalisation; build local capacity and ownership and responsibility for future development  Collaboration E-W; community - governments  Political – recognition of the real potential and value of the north – RDA; ONA

Governance Delivery - Overarching Political Partnership

Partnership model to provide:  Improved governance and fiscal reform  Decentralisation and local leadership development  Based on coordination and collaboration  Across the board engagement and participation – avoid silos  Regionally specific and manageable funding programs  Equity: fiscal reform to include return to regions of royalties from resource exploitation

Conference/forum in Darwin involving  Local government and community  RDA  ONA  State & Territory governments  Australian Government  Universities,  CRCs ?  TropLinks  Desert Knowledge Australia  NAEDF  Regional Development Practitioners Network

Kate Sutcliffe Mobile: